MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on its recent analysis of the unified communications (UC) virtualization market, Frost & Sullivan has recognized Mitel with the 2013 North America Award for Product Leadership. Mitel gained recognition for its pioneering product developments in real-time communications software virtualization, a critical technology that enables customers to migrate part or all of their business communications to the cloud.

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that demonstrates innovation in product features, and functionality that provides enhanced quality and higher value to customers. The award recognizes the rapid acceptance such innovation finds in the marketplace.

"While Mitel has used its first-to-market advantages optimally, it has also regularly improved its single software stream to provide the same features, quality of service, warranty, and software assurance programs, no matter how customers choose to deploy its solutions," said Frost & Sullivan Senior Analyst, Robert Arnold. "The company has streamlined development, sales, training and support, to provide a consistent user experience across private cloud or customer-premises equipment, hosted or public cloud configurations."

Mitel is among the select few that can address customers of nearly any type and size. Benefits, such as hardware consolidation and unified management, attract small and medium businesses unwilling to acquire the numerous hardware servers that traditional UC architectures require. Large organizations gain even greater benefits, which are enabled by streamlined operations, including faster installation and upgrade cycles, centralized provisioning, management and control, integration with VMware processor optimization, and business continuity.

More than 40 percent of the company's UC applications sold today are configured for deployment on virtual machines. In addition, more than 4,000 Mitel virtual appliance systems are running at customer sites, and over 45 service providers worldwide have deployed or are planning to deploy Mitel cloud communication solutions using virtualized server infrastructure.

"Despite the current availability of a plethora of virtual UC server solutions, Mitel has successfully sustained its product differentiation," noted Arnold. "The breadth and depth of its virtual UC solutions, which leverage a common software stream not yet uniformly supported by Mitel's rivals, stand out."

Mitel offers a well-rounded cloud ready portfolio of virtual UC server solutions. The company's virtual MCD (vMCD) virtual call control server, developed in partnership with VMware, earned Mitel its first-mover status in the deployment of call control solutions leveraging hypervisor technology. The portfolio also includes its multi-instance communications director (MiCD), a consolidation of independent call servers on an optimized hypervisor layer, and the virtual Mitel applications suite (vMAS), which supports a full suite of UC applications running on a single virtual machine, created waves in the market. Top competitors have followed Mitel's lead by introducing virtual UC server solutions of their own, in effect validating Mitel's technology.

Mitel's numerous virtualized applications, including call control, instant messaging, and conferencing, have the ability to co-reside with third-party applications and fully integrate with VMware vSphere and vCenter components. The company's products allow for hybrid deployments, with a blend of premises and cloud-based applications from outsourced, cloud-based services using Mitel virtual infrastructure. This flexibility has made Mitel popular among customers looking to implement next-generation communications solutions.

Mitel's well-established sales and services programs also help customers migrate their existing platforms and software licenses to next-generation virtual solutions.

About Mitel

Mitel® (Nasdaq: MITL; TSX: MNW) is a global provider of unified communications and collaboration (UCC) software, solutions and services that enable organizations to conduct business anywhere, over any medium with the device of their choice. Through a single cloud-ready software stream, Mitel's Freedom architecture provides customers in over 100 countries the flexibility and simplicity needed to support today's dynamic work environment. For more information visit www.mitel.com.

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